Shoe heel



F. F. WILLIAMS.

SHOE H EEL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2, 1919.

1,404,822. Patented Jan. 31,1922.

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SHOE HEEL.

cense;

Specification of Letters Patent. P t t d 33 ,31, 1922,

Application filed September 2,1919. Serial No. 321,074.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN F. WIL- LIAMS, a citizen of the United States, resid= ing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementin Shoe Heels, of which the following is a full,"clea-r, and exact, description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make andusethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to an anti-slipping, wear-resisting, cushioning deviceor attachment that is designed for use upon the heels of footwear and also upon the lower ends of the legs of chairs, tables, desks, pianos, and like furniture.

The principal objects of my invention are, to provide a relatively simple and inexpensive disk that is capable of being readily applied to or removed from a heel of a shoe or the leg of a table or other piece offurniture, the main body portion of which device is preferably formed of a rubber composition material, the nature of which tends to resist wear and eliminate slipping when in contact with smooth surfaces, and said material being elastic or yielding to a certain degree, thereby tending to cushion or break the force of impact between the device and a solid surface upon which the device is placed.

A further object of my invention is to provide a cushioning and wear-resisting disk which, when placed on the heel of a shoe or the like, can be loosely attached to said heel, in order that said device will rotate while in service, thereby equalizing the wear on the underface of the device, with the result that the heel portion of the shoe will at all times be maintained in proper position and without tending to run over and lose its shape, there being a concentrically corrugated metal plate with its marginal edges embedded in the disk, said plate having a central opening for the passage of a fastening screw.

With the foregoing and other objects in view my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevational view of a shoe with my improved cushioning and wear-re'- sisting disk applied to the underside of the heel thereof.

Figure 2 is a detail sectional v1ew taken through the lower portion of a heel to which my improved disk is applied.

Figure 3 is a plan View of thereinforcing plate: that is partially embedded in the body ofthedisk. i p

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 5'-5 of Figure 8.

, Referring by numerals, to the accompanying drawings, 10 designates the body. of the disk, which body is preferably of any desired diameter and thickness, although where the device is intended for use upon shoe heels, I have demonstrated that said disk should have a thickness of approximately one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch. This disk is preferably formed of rubber or a composition having rubber as its principal ingredient, thus providing a body having a certain degree of elasticity to give a cushioning efieot while in service, and at the same time providing a construction that will minimize the tendency to slip on smooth surfaces.

Embedded in this body 10 is a plate 11, preferably formed of thin fiat metal, the diameter of which is less than the diameter of the body 10.

Formed in the plate preferably at points halfway between its center and periphery are apertures 12 which are filled with the material of which the body 10 is formed,

thus firmly anchoring the, disk 11 in saidbody.

A recess 13 of any desired shape is formed in the lower central portion of body 10,thus exposing the underface of the central portion of plate 11 and passing through an opening in the center of said plate 11 and into the central portion of the upper part of the body 10 is a fastening device, preferably a screw 14, the threaded shank of which is seated in the body of the heel or in the lower portion of the leg of the piece of furniture to which the device is attached.

In the event that the device is used on the legs of furniture or the like, the recess 13 performs the functions of a suction cup to cause the device to firmly adhere to the floor, and to enhance this efiect the underside of the body 10 may be provided with a pine rality of small recesses as shown by the dot ted lines a, in Figure 3.

If desired,'the attaching screw 14: may be seated in the heel so as to permit the device to rotate freely in all directions, such rotation being effected by the frictional contact between the underface of the device and the surface of the floor orground, and as a result of this automatic rotation of said device,

the wear upon its undersurface is equally,

distributed.

If-desired, the screw can be tightened to firmly secure the disk to the heel, and as the rear of side of the undersurface ofsaid disk becomes Worn, said disk can be adjusted from time totimeby'loosening the screw, and turning the disk partially 'arou nd 'to bringa fresh weariiig surface toward the rear orside of the heel, after which the screw is tightened.

The metal'plate is provided \Vitll concentrically arranged ribs or corrugations 15 to give it strength and also preventslippage or creepage of the rubber diskrelative thereto,

which might, as in the instance of a flat plate With perforations therein, tend to cut or shear the anchorages passing through the perforations.

I claim: A shoe heel comprising a yielding body portion formed with a recess in it's'lower 

